1. Technical Field of the Present Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer networks, and more specifically, to methods and apparatuses that detect and initialize the addition of a new client machine in a network.
2. Background of the Invention
Computers and their application programs are used in all aspects of business, industry and academic endeavors. In recent years, there has been a technological evolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. This advance has been even further accelerated by the extensive consumer and business involvement in the Internet in recent years. As a result of these changes, it seems as if virtually all aspects of human productivity in the industrialized world requires human/computer interaction. The computer industry has been a force for bringing about great increases in business and industrial productivity. Almost every week seems to bring computer industry advances which promise even further increases in productivity. These advances offer to drive down business and industry costs and increase efficiency in addition to increasing productivity. In addition, the cost of "computer power" continues to drop as result of rapid advances in computer related technologies.
Despite all these advantages, there still remains great resistance in all industries and business fields to new computer systems and significant system upgrades which offer much in productivity increases. This resistance results from past experience which equates installing new computer systems or significant upgrades in existing systems with large amounts of downtime, during which the business, manufacturing facility or individual worker functions or operate at diminished levels.
When a business or production facility is trying to decide whether to install a new or significantly upgraded computer system, the concern about downtime, the possible loss of business, as well as stress on the workers involved, very often out weighs the cost of the installation in influencing the decision. The concern about business and production delays resulting from installation has become so great that fewer and fewer small businesses are trying to make system and program changes on their own.
The professional computer service industry which carries out and supports installations and upgrades in the business and industrial sector has been rapidly expanding over the past decade. However, even with such computer professional support, the threat of such downtime coupled with the cost of such professional services caused by installation delays remains of great concern. This is especially true when the demands put on a current network environment requires additional clients.
It would, therefore, be a distinct advantage to have a method and apparatus that would automatically, and without intervention by a skilled administrator, detect the addition of a new client machine to the network, and completely initialize the new client machine to be completely operative with minimal interaction by an individual. The present invention provides such a method and apparatus.